As the winter rains move in to Bay Area and the days get shorter, SETI Institute scientists are still keeping busy. They continue to unravel more puzzles about our local celestial neighbors, as well as other worlds many light-years away.

The brain is a hot research topic, but despite all efforts, your grey matter largely remains a black box – an indecipherable web of neurons with a hidden subconscious agenda. But tiny sensors could shed light on what’s going on in your noggin. Find out what implanted “brain dust” may reveal about who you are.

Mehmet Alpaslan's SETI Talk on Tuesday November 22, 2016. When viewed at the largest scales, the distribution of galaxies in the Universe resembles a complex, tangled web: an interconnected network of filaments of galaxies that surround vast, empty voids.

Janice Bishop gave a SETI Talks about "History of Clays on Mars: How We Found Them and Why They are Important for Astrobiology" on Tuesday, November 08 2016 - 12:00 pm, PST. Detecting clays on Mars has had a rocky history over the past 4 decades, but detecting them on the surface today is becoming commonplace.

It has just become harder for surprise meteor showers to escape our attention. On October 1, the third station of a new 48-camera, video-surveillance network in the United Arab Emirates has come online to help map meteor showers. The network complements the existing 80-camera Cameras for Allsky Meteor Surveillance (CAMS) network twelve time zones later in California.

Frank Drake had a problem. It was the fall of 1961, a year after his pioneering SETI experiment: Project Ozma. Using an 85-foot antenna in Green Bank, West Virginia, Drake had unfurled the intriguing possibility that we might find proof of intelligent beings by simply eavesdropping on their broadcasts.

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Don’t Miss the Total Solar Eclipse of 2017

Next August, and for the first time in 37 years, the moon’s shadow will cross the contiguous U.S., and do so from ocean to ocean.If you’ve never before seen a total solar eclipse, you won’t want to miss this rare chance to become more interesting at parties and family reunions when you relate your experiences and describe the incredible views.

But fair warning: Lodging along the eclipse path is already filling up.Fortunately, you can bypass that problem and all other logistical nightmares.Just sign up for one of MWT’s exquisite eclipse tours – this one on a boat cruising down the Columbia River.You’ll be following in the wake of Lewis and Clark, without the discomforts of same.The tour lecturer will be SETI Institute astronomer Seth Shostak.

Check out this remarkable trip here. There are only a few cabins left.